Your Most Common Negative Feedback

[Bramblethorn]

My problem is I've read so much that sometimes I think I know more than I actually do. So when I'm writing I try to at least keep in the areas I know well enough to not commit really obvious blunders.

As long as you know what colour the boat shed is at Hereford. That's the important bit.

 

[PastMaster]

That's too simple.

All stories are a mix of fiction and fact. Even the most fantastical of stories depends on readers being able to assume that a lot of stuff works the same way it does in the real world. Tolkien explains how elves and trolls and magical rings work, but he doesn't need to explain things like "being stabbed is bad for you", "horses are fast but they can't fly", or "being rejected by your dad sucks".

Part of the author's job is to convey to the readers how much they can assume from real life and how much they can't. That's a complicated dance and it's impossible to satisfy every reader, but if you're getting a lot of complaints about it then it's probably worth considering whether you could be conveying this more clearly.

There's also a vast difference between fictional license for the sake of a good story (dragons are cool, don't talk to me about the aerodynamics) and something that reads like "author doesn't know what they're talking about". Just because readers give us a pass on the former doesn't mean they're going to accept the latter.

I'm sorry but I don't agree. As the author you set the rules of the world you are creating. It is your responsibility to ensure that once you have created those rules that you stick to them, but you are not bound by real world constraints. That is the whole purpose of fiction.
Yes there are assumptions that horses can't fly and being stabbed is bad for you, but if you say that a legal concept is so in your world, or that a medical concept is so, then it is so.

Having readers come back with 'the statute of new bumkiss section 14a says....' is inane.

And while I'm ranting (sorry about that) half the time the so called 'facts' that the readers are claiming as truth - are in fact wrong.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I'm sorry but I don't agree. As the author you set the rules of the world you are creating. It is your responsibility to ensure that once you have created those rules that you stick to them, but you are not bound by real world constraints. That is the whole purpose of fiction.
Yes there are assumptions that horses can't fly and being stabbed is bad for you, but if you say that a legal concept is so in your world, or that a medical concept is so, then it is so.

If you're consciously saying those things, absolutely. If an author wants to tell their readers "In 2025 the government of California made clothes illegal" or "Pfizer's new version of Viagra has the unintended side effect of making its users change sex", that's a fine premise for a story. You've told the readers you're changing the rules and they can decide whether they want to play along or go read something else. Anybody who wants to complain about realism there has only themselves to blame.

But if the author gives every impression that the standard rules of law and medicine apply, and then the resolution of the story depends on breaking those rules, that's very unsatisfying for a reader who has that background. If I'm telling a murder mystery, I want my readers to be invested in it, I want them trying to figure out who did the murder and how. It's no fun for them if I change the rules about something important without notice.

Having readers come back with 'the statute of new bumkiss section 14a says....' is inane.

And while I'm ranting (sorry about that) half the time the so called 'facts' that the readers are claiming as truth - are in fact wrong.

Can't argue with you on that one.

 

[onehitwanda]

As long as you know what colour the boat shed is at Hereford. That's the important bit.

That's a trick question. It's not a boat shed, it's a boat that's been turned into a shed.

 

[Bramblethorn]

That's a trick question. It's not a boat shed, it's a boat that's been turned into a shed.

In hindsight, I guess Sean Bean probably did himself a favour by not knowing the answer to that question.

 

[Duleigh]

Yesterday a reader left me a very interesting comment that I wanted to respond to, the reader has a shared interest, and I would like to start a conversation, but their contact page said that the reader does not allow anonymous contacts. But I'm not anonymous, I wonder if I should contact Laurel, she's almost been responsive lately.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Yesterday a reader left me a very interesting comment that I wanted to respond to, the reader has a shared interest, and I would like to start a conversation, but their contact page said that the reader does not allow anonymous contacts. But I'm not anonymous, I wonder if I should contact Laurel, she's almost been responsive lately.

Can you PM the reader through the forums?

 

[Duleigh]

Can you PM the reader through the forums?

I gave it a shot, hope to hear back from him